| Book Review | The Western Historical Quarterly, 39.1

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to the WHQ online. About 165 words from this article are provided below; about 391 words remain.

If you are a individual subscriber to the Western Historical Quarterly, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a subscriber to the Western Historical Quarterly, you can:: • subscribe here.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the Western Historical Quarterly (104.3-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the Western Historical Quarterly.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The Western Historical Quarterly, 39.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Inescapable Ecologies: A History of Environment, Disease, and Knowledge. By Linda Nash. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006. xii + 332 pp. Illustrations, maps, notes, bibliography, index. $24.95, paper.)

Linda Nash's groundbreaking Inescapable Ecologies explores the links between bodies, health, and landscape in California's Central Valley. Nash argues that nineteenth century American settlers were intensely concerned with the environment as a source of health and disease. Settlers' fears of fevers rested on the assumption that bodies were permeable, allowing miasmas in the environment to have powerful effects on humors and balances in bodies. Anxieties about the effects of California environments on racial purity were closely linked to settlers' concerns with permeable bodies. Settlers and medical geographers debated the effects of hot, tropical environments such as the Central Valley on white, and particularly, female bodies. Would California destroy the fertility of white women, thus threatening the future of the race, or would women's wombs somehow adapt to new environments?

. . .

There are about 391 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.